SONOS (silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide silicon) is a semiconductor technology used in non-volatile solid-state memory devices. A SONOS device is a type of MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor) that may use a quantum mechanical effect known as uniform, modified Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling to transport charge to and from a charge-trapping dielectric layer between the control gate and the channel of the MOSFET. The trapped charge shifts the threshold voltage of the device, which is defined as the gate-to-source voltage at which the device transitions between non-conducting and conducting states. The trapped charge can be negative (electrons) or positive (“holes,” the absence of electrons) and the threshold voltage of the device is shifted in opposite directions for the two opposite charge polarities. The threshold voltage shifts can be associated with two different data states or logic levels (e.g., logical “0” and logical “1”). Typically, the non-conducting state is associated with a programmed, logical “1” state and the conducting state is associated with an erased, logical “0” state. However, additional improvements are needed in the evolution of SONOS-type memory devices, e.g., in the extension of data retention in SONOS-type memory devices.